Mobile Communication Technology
For Customer Service on Working Vacations

Mobile communication technology relies heavily on internet service and cell phones. With this combination, customer communications by email, fax and phone during your working vacation are not hard to accomplish.

Email

Once you have your laptop and mobile internet service, email communications are an easy and natural addition. Handling emails during your trip can be a great way to fill down time...such as when you're riding in a car or waiting for family members to get ready for an outing. Keeping caught up also makes things smoother when you return.

Faxes

Once you have email access while you're traveling, fax solutions are simple. We use a service called MyFax. For a small monthly fee, all of our faxes are converted to PDF files and sent to our email. Not only that, the fee includes an 800 number…a plus for our customers. There are different packages available depending how many faxes you send and receive. If you are able to scan documents, you can fax them from your computer and eliminate the need for an actual fax machine. We occasionally (believe it or not) have customers who have access to a fax machine, but do not use email. MyFax can be used to send an email right to their fax machine.

Mail

There is not much communication technology for this, but you will need to address it before your trip. Going to the United States Postal Service website is the most convenient way to place a mail hold and have it automatically delivered when you return.

Telephone

Cell phones have changed our world. Business lines, however, will need a little attention during your vacation if no one is at the office to take calls. Answering services are a possibility, but we find voice mail and call forwarding to be good and cost effective options to use while traveling. Depending what we are doing and where we are going, we have used both options at different times. If we are not in a place that has good cell phone service, we simply leave voice mail to handle calls and check in for messages. If we have good reception and don't mind the interruption, we forward the business phone to our cell phone.

We love our Nextel phones. If you have someone back at the office, the walkie talkie feature is a very quick and convenient way communicate. This works very well for us since we find that most times a long conversation is not necessary. We use it regularly both locally and across country. The sound quality is just as good long distance as it is locally. You can not interrupt someone while using the walkie talkies, so this can be a drawback if you're talking to someone who is long winded.

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